The Alamo

If you're looking to visit the Alamo and other tourist spots located nearby, you can wait for the hotel rates to drop between November to April! However, if you want to beat the summer heat, you can visit in the colder months. After all, the best time to visit a spot that's open year-round is when you feel the most comfortable!

The Alamo, or the Mission San Antonio de Valero, was named for St. Anthony of Padua. It was erected by Spanish colonizers along the shores of the San Antonio River in 1718. Alongside this global cultural icon, a military garrison of San Antonio de Béxar was constructed, and the area quickly developed into a settlement dubbed San Fernando de Béxar, which was later known as San Antonio.

The Alamo along with other San Antonio Missions sat at the northern frontier of New Spain, which was under the Spanish Empire. For 70 years, it served as a home for missionaries and the indigenous people they converted to Catholicism until it was eventually secularized by the Spanish government in 1793. As a result, the grounds where the five missions stood were distributed among the natives. 

Interestingly enough, the Alamo is the most popular among the five San Antonio Missions. This is mostly due to the historic Battle of the Alamo, a crucial event during Texas' war for independence from Mexico, lasting 13 days from February 23 to March 6, 1836. This famous conflict was set in motion when a group of Texan volunteer troops led by Benjamin Milam and George Collinsworth captured the Alamo, nestled near the present-day city of San Antonio, in December 1835. On February 23, a large Mexican force (somewhere between 1,800 to 6,000 soldiers) led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna laid a siege on the fortress.

Despite being considerably outnumbered and in threat of being overpowered, the Alamo's 200 defenders, led by Colonel James Bowie and Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis, including the famous frontiersman Davy Crockett, valiantly fought off the opposing Mexican forces for 13 days before finally being subjugated by them. To this day, the Battle of the Alamo remains an icon and emblem of the Texan resilience and their long struggle for independence which eventually bore fruit when Texans won their independence later that year. 

But before the much-awaited independence was won, the Mexican army once more occupied the Alamo from March through May. The Alamo Battle served as a symbol of valiant resistance and a call to arms for the Texans in their fight for freedom. Sam Houston (who was then appointed commander-in-chief of Texan forces) and some 800 Texans defeated Santa Anna's 1,500-man Mexican army on the historic day of April 21, 1836, at San Jacinto (which is close to where Houston is now).

Their battle cry "Remember the Alamo!" remains famous to this day. Because Santa Anna, who had been taken prisoner, reached an agreement with Houston to stop the war, the victory ensured the much-deserved Texan independence. Mexican troops stationed in San Antonio were given the order to leave in May and destroy the Alamo's defenses along the way.